Health Care Costs Increase, but not because of the Affordable Care Act!

Even during the run-up to the Affordable Care Act, the media and health care pundits never brought up the deplorable state of our private insurance based system.

I remember it well as a small business owner because I had to shop in the individual market every year after receiving huge premium increases to re-up. While the media claimed increases somewhere around 10%, mine were 20 to 30%. Looks like I was right. LA Times:

Family premiums have increased 20% over the last five years, which is a lot but a darn sight better than the 31% hike over the previous five years, and a huge improvement over the staggering 63% growth in the five years before that.

A look at the latest stats will probably prompt Republicans to blame ObamaCare for increased health care costs, but that would be a lie. Here's the headline:

Sick: The biggest increase in healthcare costs in 32 years: The U.S. Labor Department reported Friday that spending on healthcare rose last month by the biggest amount (1%) in more than three decades.

But it’s wasn't ObamaCare's fault, or even insurance companies jacking up premiums; blame hospital costs and drug prices. This is very important to understand;

The overall price of medical treatment increased by 1% in August … the largest monthly gain since 1984 … The cost of hospital services climbed 1.7% in August, the biggest gain since October 2015, while the average price of prescription meds jumped 1.3%. That means average drug prices are up 6.3% over the last 12 months, the largest such increase in two years.

Health care is NOT a Consumer Product: The most egregious mistake Republicans like Paul Ryan make is treating health care like a consumable product. We don't "shop" for care, but receive it when we are least able to do anything but get immediate medical help.

Ghoulish Health Care Profits: Republicans must think buying health insurance makes this a consumer product, but ridiculous. In other industrialized countries, there are strict laws barring anyone from profiting off of the sick and dying. Makes sense, right? And that should be a dilemma for Republicans, but isn't because...

This country already spends $3 trillion annually on healthcare. That represents about 17% of total economic activity. The average for all nations within the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development is 9%.

It’s deeply worrying that one of our most robust and reliable engines of economic growth is the business of sick people. Unless, that is, having the biggest hospital and drugstore bills is a point of pride.

It's a nasty revelation that I hope a few conservatives might start thinking about.

The other big topic I’ve been shouting about for years; Workplace Employee Deductibles and Health Savings Accounts, a Republican idea that brings about self rationing and bankruptcy so sick people have "skin in the game," like they don't already have a lot to lose:

Many Americans are paying more out of pocket for healthcare as they try to keep a lid on monthly premiums by accepting higher insurance deductibles … annual family premiums for employer-sponsored health plans are up an average 3% to $18,142 ... high-deductible plans shifting a greater share of the spending burden to patients … insurers keeping costs down by providing less-comprehensive coverage. Twenty-nine percent of all U.S. workers are now in high-deductible plans, up from 20% two years ago, according to Kaiser.

And what about drug prices?

A recent report from the Government Accountability Office found that while the average price of generics has come down in recent years, more than 300 generic meds have experienced “at least one extraordinary price increase of 100% or more.” Investigators found 15 generic meds that have seen price hikes of more than 1,000%.

Want Health Insurance? Do what JB Van Hollen did...if you can.

Let’s see how our strong pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps, hardworking, “you-built-that” conservative big mouths, work their way up.

Take a tip from former AG JB Van Hollen. Oh, and just for fun, see how he dealt with the scary possibility of losing his health insurance:

As attorney general, J.B. Van Hollen asked the state’s corrections secretary at the time to give his wife a state job so his family could keep health benefits, “He asked me to find her a position there (at the Department of Corrections) as an attorney since he was not running again so they would have an income source and benefits,” former Corrections Secretary Ed Wall testified. Few applied for the job, and Lynne Van Hollen did get the job.

After Lynne Van Hollen worked as a Department of Corrections attorney, she sought to become the department’s chief counsel. Wall did not go along with that. J.B. Van Hollen then contacted Walker’s chief of staff at the time, Eric Schutt, in an effort to get her the job, according to Wall’s testimony Wednesday. Wall remained steadfast and she did not get that job.

I’m not taking a shot at Van Hollen’s wife, I’m just pointing out how the rules differ for one party.  

Despite the Affordable Care Act, Health Insurers again destroying American lives.

Our supposed "insurance" system is fatally flawed, and may get worse if "free market" Republicans have their way with health care. Instead of having health care coverage everywhere - seeing any doctor or going to any hospital - we're chained to a network located in our area. 

The Problem: Insurers have their own health care networks, using specific hospitals and doctors. That often ends up bankrupting people who have insurance, like the woman below, who was taken to an out of network hospital.  

I had my own experience where I meticulously made sure all my medical costs were accounted for with my insurer. What I didn't know was the eye surgeons clinic was not in my network, and neither was the very expensive anesthesiologist. A big mistake, but an easy costly one to make. 

But my mistake is nothing compared to Megan Rothbauer's problem. It should be clear by now health care is not a consumer product left up to the free market and insurance companies:

DailyKos: Megan Rothbauer suffered a heart attack at the young age of 29-years-old and had to be put in a medically-induced coma for 10 days. After she recovered, she found her nightmare was just beginning:

WISC: A project manager for a manufacturing company, she is one year removed from a cardiac arrest and the subsequent physical recovery is being dwarfed by a near-impossible fiscal recovery. She was sent last Sept. 9 to the emergency room at St. Mary's Hospital, which was out of her insurance network, instead of to Meriter Hospital, three blocks away, which was covered by her insurance. It's the difference between a $1,500 maximum out-of-pocket expense and the now-$50,000-plus she's facing in bills.

"I was unconscious when I was taken to the hospital," she said. "Unfortunately, I was taken to the wrong hospital for my insurance.

Meg Gaines, from the Center for Patient Partnerships, said this is type of situation is far too common:

"It's devastating for people who plan, who get insurance, get coverage, do everything they can and then, at 29, have a heart attack and get taken to the wrong hospital, and can't get married, can't do anything because they have to declare bankruptcy because they can't afford to have gone to the hospital," she said. "I mean, it's not enough to worry about having a heart attack at 29, you end up with a secondary one or a stroke because of your medical bills. I mean, it's just ridiculous. The level of frustration is astronomical."

Hike in Health Care Insurance not because of Affordable Care Act.

The shocking news is old really. Health care premiums are up again.

A new report claims that Obamacare is only negligibly responsible for the surge in health insurance premiums this year, but former New York Lt. Gov. and healthcare expert Betsy McCaughey says its provisions do come with a steep price and there is “no tooth fairy.” Drew Altman, chief executive officer of the Kaiser Family Foundation, asserted that the healthcare reform bill enacted last year accounts for just 1 to 2 percentage points of the premium increases in 2011.

But instead of going to a single payer system that takes the health care burden off business, Republicans have decided to focus on the tax cuts. The greatest help for business; take health care off their backs, but not the way Paul Ryan wants to do it, with a voucher (you pay the balance and self-ration the rest or go bankrupt).

The average cost of a family policy climbed 9 percent to $15,073 in 2011 … health insurance is consuming a bigger share of employer costs, forcing many companies to eliminate pay raises and pass on more medical costs to workers.

But the obvious pain companies are going through with health insurance and the hit employees are taking in the paycheck with copays and coverage is missed by Betsy McCaughey. With cuts to take home wages, consumers aren’t spending like they used to.

So for McCaughey, it’s all about the Affordable Care Act.

“That's why McKinsey & Co. found that as many as 50 percent of large employers surveyed are considering dropping coverage in 2014. If that happens, middle and high earners will be forced into the exchanges, and lower income workers will be forced onto Medicaid."

Lower wage workers won’t be forced into Medicaid, they’ll be pushed into it by our expanding lower wages in our race to the bottom. And it won’t be their fault.

But even worse than that, McCaughey resents the impact of Medicaid on profits:

This year's premium hikes also result because more people have lost their jobs or part of their income and now qualify for Medicaid, “the government program that shortchanges hospitals and doctors,” McCaughey noted.

Instead of tax cuts, maybe Americans can keep more of their money by going single payer.

The average American now accounts for about $7,538 a year in medical costs, including out-of-pocket expenses, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The average cost per person in industrialized countries including the U.K., Norway and Switzerland is $2,995.

Law to make Insurance Policy Legalese easier to read and understand for Consumers…GONE!! Too Costly for Industry?

Forget what it might cost consumers, the state Office of the Commissioner of Insurance thinks the industry shouldn't make the “costly” (?) one time investment to write easily understandable explanations of coverage.

  

Health plans supported the simplified policy statements.

jsonline: Ted Nickel, the state insurance commissioner, plans to move ahead with his proposed emergency rule to scrap new regulations to make insurance policies easier to read and understand.

The pending regulation, a holdover from the previous administration, also would have required health insurers to list all of the exclusions and limitations - basically what's not covered - in one section of a policy.

Bobby Peterson, a lawyer for ABC for Health, a statewide public interest law firm based in Madison, said the Office of the Commissioner of Insurance received 54 comments supporting the new regulations while one health plan opposed them.

The Office of the Insurance Commissioner cited the cost to the industry and the pending changes under federal health care reform as two of the reasons for issuing its emergency rule. The final rule next will be sent to the Legislature for review.

 Any questions about who this administration serves after getting your vote? 

Big Government Mandate in Wisconsin is Telling me to Buy Car Insurance. That's not what the Founding Fathers wanted!

First it was Health Insurance, now we're losing the freedom to go without Car insurance.
Slowly but surely we're losing our liberties and freedoms to freeload off everyone else for health care and car insurance. What's next, regulating Wall Street?

Drivers will want to make sure the auto insurance paperwork in their glove box is up to date before Tuesday. That's when a state law requiring all Wisconsin motorists to purchase auto insurance goes into effect.

Those who can't provide proof of insurance when they are pulled over or in an accident may face a $10 fine, and the law allows for fines of up to $500 for people caught driving without insurance. Wisconsin is currently one of two states that doesn't require drivers to purchase auto insurance … New Hampshire will be the only state without the mandate.

It's estimated that "15 percent of Wisconsin drivers are uninsured," making everyone else pay extra for uninsured motorist coverage. Those freedom loving jackasses are costing me money.